Mayra Peña Lindsay, who is currently serving her fourth year as a council member, was automatically elected when no one else filed to run for the office by the June 23 deadline.

Peña Lindsay, 49, will take over the role starting this November from Frank Caplan, who has reached his four-year limit in his second term as mayor.

When asked if she was surprised that no one ran against her, she said, “Yeah because we have such involved residents. I was ready to campaign. I'm glad people felt that I had done a good job as a council member. Their support really validates my four years on this council and I feel very honored.”

In Key Biscayne, the mayor acts as the council’s chair person, but the council chooses a village manager to serve as chief executive of Village Hall.

Peña Lindsay , who was born in Cuba but has been living in the South Florida since she was a year old, has resided in Key Biscayne for twenty-one years with her husband, with whom she has two daughters. Before becoming a council member, she served on Key Biscayne’s Youth Athletic Advisory Board for a year and a half, where she advocated for more after-school sports and enrollment of those programs.

She works as the special projects coordinator at Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office and holds a law degree from the University of Miami. She is not a lawyer, however; her job involves creating and managing community outreach programs for the public defender’s office.

“We’re good colleagues – we’ve worked hand and glove together and I know she wants what’s best for the community and I will assist her in the transition,” said Mayor Caplan. Though the limit for his term as mayor expires in November, he can still run for council. “I’ve still got to decide if I want to run but I have until August to make that decision.”

When asked what pressing issues she plans to address when she takes the gavel, she says, “I’m still in the process of thinking about that. We’ll continue with strategic planning as we have some ongoing issues like the entry-block, Mashta Flats and infrastructure matters that I’ll continue to put thought into and strategize.”